Study: Better air quality prolongs life in US

New research has found that a steady improvement in air quality over the last 20 years has added 21 weeks to average life of an individual.

The country's efforts to cut pollution, including particularly harmful miniscule particles emitted by traffic and industrial plants, have added extra time to the lives of US citizens, according to a study carried out by Utah's Brigham Young University.

On average, people's lives have been lengthened by 15 per cent since the eighties, the research, which studied life expectancy rates and pollution, discovered.

Arden Pope, epidemiologist at the university, said that smoking habits and improving socioeconomic conditions have also contributed to the prolonging of life.

"It's stunning that the air pollution effect seems to be as robust as it is after controlling for these other things," Mr Pope explained.

Pollution can alter the development of asthma-associated genes in unborn babies, according to a recent study undertaken by the Centre for Environmental Genetics at the University of Cincinnati.